Seasoned tech blogger. Host of the Tech Addicts podcast.
TAT Home have whipped up a really nice skin for Android which transforms the home screen with a powerful gesture based 3D experience that relies heavily on cascading windows and finger flicks in order to improve your navigational efficiency.
Finger friendly widgets and rich transitions are all here and is supposed to blend nicely with Androids original widgets. Checkout the video for more then head over to TAT to sign up for the beta.
With the huge announcement of Windows Phone 7 out of the way, we’re anticipating what was rumored about another Microsoft phone last week: news about a project Pink revival. Project Pink is supposed to be Microsoft’s first attempt at making their own hardware using the team that they bought from the acquisition of Sidekicks creators. Before Microsoft can say anything officially however, the folks over at WMExperts have unearthed some gritty details about the upcoming phones.
The Turtle, pictured above, featuring a 320 x 240 resolution screen and, obviously, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Judging by the phone and screen size as well as its resolution, this may be an entry-level phone, but it’s said that it will incorporate some serious social networking features and media.
Microsoft’s Pure may be somewhat of a successor to the Sidekick, whose reputation is now slightly tarnished due to what could be remembered as the Danger Server Fiasco of 2009, the Pure expands on Turtles horizons with a 480 x 320 screen along with what looks to be a usable QWERTY keyboard. If this is the Sidekicks replacement, then T-Mobile will get first dibs on it.
All of these handsets are allegedly strongly tied to NVIDIA’s powerful Tegra system found on the ZuneHD and are constantly referred to as “Premium Mobile Experiences” throughout the documents that revealed these morsels of information. Hopefully we’ll get a lot more from Microsoft regarding these new handsets at Mobile World Congress later today.
The TG01 probably still has the sexiest hardware made to date, trouble was, the software was terrible and the resistive screen sealed its fate. Skip forward 12 months and now Toshiba has updated the beauty with brawn and brains. Say hello to the Toshiba TG02.
Sporting Windows Mobile 6.5.3 with a UI layer provided by SPB Mobile Shell, a popular third part skin for WinMo in the similar vein to HTC’s efforts which has gained popularity for those in the know, and a capacitive screen to go along with the Snapdragon 1ghz cpu. Seems like Tosh still have a few kinks to work out but without doubt the TG02 is worth a second look. The eagle eyed amongst you will spot CorePlayer, which happens to be one of the most versatile media players ever made and will hopefully make it into the final build.
Sony Ericcson have pulled out a few devices from their back pockets. Lets take a look at them:
Mobile World Congress is all about the last-minute leaks this year. First, a tiny glimpse of Windows Phone leaked out just hours before it became official. Now, three brand-spankin’ new handsets from HTC have just leaked out, just one day before HTC’s press conference but after the press conference, these handsets are now official.
The glorious beast you see above is the HTC Desire, previously known around the rumor mill as the HTC Bravo. Take Google’s Nexus One, stick HTC’s customized Sense user interface on it, replace the trackball with a nifty optical trackpad – and bam! You’ve got the Desire. It’ll run Android 2.1 on a big and beautiful 3.7? AMOLED touchscreen packed on top of a 1GHZ processor, 512 MB ROM/576 MB RAM, Bluetooth 2.1, and a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash.
Living wallpapers (and Google Navigation for our US cousins) are all present and correct, and multi-touch capability is also enabled. This has led HTC to create something really neat – Helicopter Mode, which allows you to simply pinch in on the home screen and see all seven of your widget-filled windows at once; a real time saving boon. T-Mobile have confirmed the Desire will be available on T-Mobile in March.
We got word of this next one, the HTC Legend, at the same time we found out about the bravo – but words were all we had. Then Dutch carrier KPN came along and spilled the beans on this spec-for-spec sequel to the HTC Hero with a few itsy-bitsy press shots.
Coming in with a 600mhz CPU, 3.2? AMOLED screen, and 512 MB RAM/384 MB ROM, it’s not quite as ridiculously spec’d out as the Desire – but it’s still a damn nice handset. Like the Desire, it’s running HTC’s Sense UI on top of Android 2.1. HTC have confirmed the Legend will be available on Vodafone in April.
Last but not least: the HD Touch Mini. It’s purportedly running Windows Mobile 6.5.3 — which, considering today’s announcement of its successor, Windows Phone, admittedly makes this one a bit hard to get too excited about. With that said, this’ll probably be one of the last Windows Mobile handsets with HTC’s dramatic UI overhauls on it, given Microsoft’s new policies that keep manufacturers from replacing Windows Phone interface elements.
All signs indicate that this one will pack a 3.2? HVGA screen, 5 megapixel camera and i wouldn’t be surprised if this one turned up at Vodafone and O2 in April.
The unofficial IMDB widget for Symbian 5th devices such as the Nokia 5800, N97, X6, 5230, 5530, Samsung i8910 HD and the Sony Ericsson Satio is now available.
Features:
Supported Devices:
Download the widget from dailymobile.se forums s60v5 application section
Engadget is at it again, this time with the Quench from Motorola, a mid tier Android device that was announced earlier today.
HTC has said it will deliver a "portfolio" of Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Series phones "later this year" with Peter Chou, the CEO of HTC calling the release a "significant milestone".
From Chou: "Windows Phone 7 Series is a significant milestone for Microsoft, the industry and ultimately people looking to do more on their phones. HTC is working closely with Microsoft to bring the unique HTC experience that customers love". "Microsoft has clearly listened to feedback from people and brought a new, fresh approach to the smartphone experience that is beautiful, powerful and compelling", Chou says.
Meanwhile Orange has issued a similar kind of release stating it plans to "deliver a range of phones in 2010 with smarter design and software integration that" – you guessed it – "are optimised for Orange customers".
Orange says it plans to combine its SIM and network authentication with Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Series to create a single customer ID, which will allow Orange customers single sign-on access to Microsoft services such as Xbox LIVE and Zune Music.
Having a quick play with the Wave today I see why Samsung are so excited about it. The Super AMOLED screen is gorgeous, playing Need for Speed Shift felt like it was on the PSP, minus the control method. The chap would allow me to take any picture of the Need For Speed demo unit and the game ran with a disclaimer in the corner suggesting it wasn’t the full release edition. He did suggest I take a picture of some pre-rendered stock shots but I wouldn’t waste your time with those. Why Samsung is not allowing this to happen is a little bizarre as it was the most impressive thing about the phone.
Otherwise, the Wave is another 5 mega-pixel slab with Twitter and Facebook integration. Bada itself is nothing amazing. I feels like just another stock OS that will lag behind iPhone, Android etc when it comes to support. The 1Ghz processor keeps things speedy and if games but I don’t think the world will go mad for it, especially when it will blend in with all the other Samsung device they have released in the last year.
Engadget managed to get some face time with Microsoft’s latest creation. Enjoy.
Update: MSDN have posted a 22 minute video of Windows Phone 7 Series goodness. Check it out here
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